Doug's Darkworld

Trump said something yesterday that neatly encompasses why we are so screwed. He announced he was going to allow border officials to prevent the return of Americans suspected of having Covid-19: Trump mulls banning return of US citizens suspected of contracting coronavirus: reports There are a number of problems with this idea.

The first, is that it is somewhere between pointless and microscopically useful. Covid-19 is spreading just fine in the United States, and only patchwork efforts are being made by individual states to control it. So a few more or less possibly infected people coming into the country isn’t going to make any difference until we get it under control inside the country. Which we are nowhere near doing, we’re not even trying on a national level. This ban will literally have no effect on the fight against Covid-19 in America, because we aren’t fighting Covid-19 in America.

Which brings us to point number two, why is Trump doing this? I can only think of two possibilities. He thinks this will help fight Covid-19. Which once again demonstrates his poor grasp of the problem and his overconfidence in his own abilities. Or it’s just Covid-19 theater for scoring political/bragging points. Neither possibility reflects Trump in a good light.

Lastly, Jeez barring American citizens from their homeland? Isn’t Trump supposed to be looking out for Americans? If Obama had barred American citizens from returning home … screams of outrage from the GOP would resound across the land. Once again this is an example of how Americans have paralyzed their country by seeing everything through a political lens. Reality doesn’t give a fuck about politics. Or religion, no matter how much one believes in their invisible superfriend.

So what should Trump be doing? What pretty much every other country has done, returning citizens are quarantined for a few weeks, then they can go home. There’s all sorts of hotels crying out for business. Of course since we are just letting Covid do its free range thing in the US, returnees would  probably be safer just staying in quarantine. Which brings us back to the beginning. As long as the USA isn’t launching a national test/trace/quarantine program, everything else we do in the name of fighting Covid-19 is basically irrelevant.

Sigh. Today Trump said if he’s not re-elected, we will all have to learn Chinese. I wish I was making this up, I can’t call it scaremongering, because the Chinese are no threat to America militarily. So what is he talking about? He’s claiming we were crushing China economically before Covid-19, and Biden will surrender economically to China if he’s elected. And China will “own” America? It makes no sense, Biden works for the same rich and corporate interests as Trump, they aren’t planning on surrendering to China anytime soon. Trump’s core base will eat it up though

Back to reality, I read this interesting article from Australia: We are witnessing the fall of a great power. It reiterates a lot of my thinking, and seems logical and factual. The objections I have seen raised to it are, well, unimpressive. If the gentle reader has any major points of disagreement, please comment. We’ve turned politics into a tribal religion in America, and that’s pretty much the end of effective government. 160,000 plus dead, with Covid-19 still out of control. The economy in tatters with no relief in sight. And neither party seems interested in anything but partisan posturing?

Yeah, we’re hosed. I hope I’m wrong. Oh, Biden picked Kamala Harris as a running mate. Honestly, I don’t really care. In fact my first impulse is to say she’s the Geraldine Ferraro of her time. Probably my last impulse too. It doesn’t really change much, Biden’s platform is “I’m not Trump.” Will it be enough to win in November? Damned if I know. Will it matter if he does or doesn’t ? Double damned if I know.

Stay safe friends and readers. We’re slowly getting to the fun part of the epidemic where almost everyone will know a victim. Will it change people’s minds? Probably not. Only the complete collapse of the system will do that. Hang on, it’s on the way. Comments, likes, shares appreciated. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: ‘A tree dreams of fall.’ I love photography, capturing moments in time and place. And other things. Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.)